Highlights
- Planeswalkers in Magic: the Gathering are powerful mages that can traverse the multiverse, leading to memorable narratives and gameplay mechanics.
- Gideon, Chandra, Nissa, Narset, Karn, Nicol Bolas, Liliana, Teferi, Jace, and Oko are some of the most iconic and influential Planeswalkers in the game.
- Each Planeswalker has unique abilities and characteristics that contribute to their impact on the game, whether it's blocking enemies, dealing damage, controlling tempo, or manipulating the board.
Magic: the Gathering features Planeswalkers, the most powerful mages that were first introduced back in Lorwyn block as the latest card type. In the story of Magic: the Gathering, Planeswalkers can traverse the multiverse to either protect or conquer whatever plane they chance upon. Such a plot device paved the way for truly memorable narratives within a certain plane or spanning multiple ones.
Game-wise, Planeswalkers gave Magic another vital game mechanic in both MTG Arena and conventional card games that let players feel how powerful and game-breaking these mages are. But which Planeswalkers left huge impressions on the current state of Magic since their inception? Here is a list of the most iconic Planeswalkers in Magic: the Gathering:
10 Gideon, Ally of Zendikar
One of the heroes of Zendikar, Gideon Jura is an iconic white Planeswalker. He is excellent at becoming a blocker against enemy cards, thanks to his ability that makes him an Indestructible 5/5 Soldier Ally who cannot be damaged since this ability also prevents all damage to him whenever he becomes said, Soldier Ally.
Gideon’s other Planeswalker abilities also capture what the white color does in the game: he can summon a 2/2 Knight creature token and gives an emblem that bolsters all the player’s units with +1/+1.
9 Chandra, the Firebrand
Red has tons of cards with Fire on them, and most of the time, these spells are aimed at the opposing player or taking out creatures. Chandra, the Firebrand lives up to this fiery reputation as the second red Planeswalker.
Chandra’s abilities let her and her player deal more damage with their spells: she can deal one damage to any target, copy the player’s instant and sorcery spells they cast this turn and have it damage new targets, and a strong board-wiping ultimate that deals six damage to each up to six targets.
8 Nissa, Who Shakes the World
One of the signature gameplay mechanics of Green Decks is their absurd mana generation. This plays into the color’s theme of a forest or jungle where ferocious beasts dwell. Nissa, Who Shakes the World, perfectly embodies the Green strategy by greatly boosting her player’s mana pool.
She has an ongoing ability that grants an additional green mana whenever her player taps a Forest. This additional mana gives Green deck players a tempo advantage as they can cast their high-cost beasts with massive Power and Toughness into the battlefield and trample the opposition. As a bonus, she can also add three +1/+1 counters on the player’s lands, essentially making them units that can serve as offensive or defensive options.
7 Narset, Parter of Veils
While most colors in Magic are focused on taking out opponents as quickly as possible via burning or overwhelming the board with creatures, Blue decks are more concerned with controlling the tempo of matches. Narset, Partner of Veils, is one such Planeswalker who is synonymous with slowing down the pace of games.
Her passive ability limits opponents’ card draw to only one each turn: this effectively shuts down most decks that rely on card advantage. Narset’s five loyalty points off the bat also allow her to survive getting hit by spells, but then again, Blue is notorious for countering spells to keep Narset alive for most rounds.
6 Karn Liberated
When the New Phyrexia block was released, Karn Liberated was the standout Planeswalker in that expansion. Karn is the main character in New Phyrexia, and as the creator of the once-beautiful artifact plane Mirrodin, his power was on full display during his run in Standard.
His first ability exiles a card from an opponent’s hand: this has the possibility of stopping any momentum or card combo the opponent has when the key card gets chosen. Karn’s second ability also straight up exiles any permanent on the battlefield, including other Planeswalker. Karn was a great option in control decks, and once players locked their opponent’s board, it was only a matter of time until Karn used his ultimate skill and definitively won the match.
5 Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker
Nicol Bolas is the most iconic antagonist as far as the Planeswalker story in Magic is concerned. The evil Elder Dragon is responsible for tearing the plane of Zendikar apart, and his quest for absolute power seemed insatiable.
He has accrued a lot of enemies throughout his quest for domination, including his twin brother, Ugin, and Liliana Vess, a master necromancer and healer. Nicol Bolas’ campaign concludes dramatically during the War of the Spark block where he encounters swathes of Planeswalkers bent on stopping him from achieving his goal.
4 Liliana of the Veil
Liliana Vess is one of the pivotal characters during the events leading to the War of the Spark. A powerful necromancer in the plane of Innistrad, she became Nicol Bolas’ slave after striking a deal with the Elder Dragon that would rid her of the contract she signed with demons that let her gain her necromantic powers.
Game-wise, Liliana of the Veil is a formidable Planeswalker and can severely slow down the tempo of games by having players discard cards. For players who run Liliana, having cards in the graveyard is a good thing, because her theme is bringing those cards back from the grave and straight into the battlefield.
3 Teferi, Hero of Dominaria
Combining the best aspects of two colors in Magic is the goal for deck-building. In Teferi, the Hero of Dominaria’s case is an exceptionally broken Planeswalker who melded the preventive aspects of White and the board-control power of Blue.
During his time in standard, Teferi was considered the best control Planeswalker. This is due to his abilities that allowed players to have mana ready at their end step to foil any spells the opponent might want to sneak in, as well as outright messing with the opponent’s curve by bouncing their non-land permanents back into their deck.
Even Teferi’s casting cost isn’t a problem, since most decks that run him are well-equipped to delay the game until they can deploy him onto the battlefield.
2 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
Jace, the Mind Sculptor is an iconic Planeswalker card due to him being the first Planeswalker to have four abilities. Previous Planeswalkers only had three, and Jace’s abilities at the time were truly difficult to contend with since, as a Blue card, his abilities can effectively control what the opponent can draw.
The card’s dominance during its initial run was so rampant, especially when players were running the dreaded CawBlade decks, that eventually Wizards of the Coast had to step in and place Jace, the Mind Sculptor on the Ban list to ensure that games become more balanced.
1 Oko, Thief of Crowns
Oko, Thief of Crowns is infamous for his efficiency and outrageous board control. He is one of the most cost-efficient Planeswalkers as a three-cost one who enters play with five loyalty points.
Once Oko is in play, he can immediately swing the momentum for his player by turning an opponent’s creature or artifact into a 3/3 creature with no abilities: his other abilities also grant players control of said 3/3 creature by exchanging control of a food token that he can also create.